The Role of Counselors in Promoting Engineering Careers: The Influence of Misconceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes

This study investigated the impact of counselors' misconceptions, knowledge, and positive attitudes towards the engineering field on their career guidance practices in engineering. Participants included 137 counselors and psychologists from elementary and secondary schools in Taiwan. Data were collected through self-developed surveys and analyzed using multiple dependent variables Linear Regression with SPSS software. The results revealed that counselors' misconceptions about engineering did not predict their perceived efficacy in providing engineering career guidance. However, their knowledge and positive attitudes towards engineering significantly and positively predicted their perceived efficacy. Regarding the frequency of advising students to pursue engineering, counselors' misconceptions and positive attitudes did not show a significant impact, while their knowledge positively predicted the frequency of such guidance. The findings underscore the importance of enhancing counselors' knowledge and positive perceptions of engineering to improve their career guidance practices in this field.